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Leach's Top 10

Welcome to my weekly college football Top 10. A couple ofnotes: I don’t believe in inertia when it comes to rankings. This week’s
rankings don’t mean a thing next week. Also, rankings should be a measure of
two things: how good you are, and what you’ve accomplished. It shouldn’t have
anything to do with what’s to come. It shouldn’t be a prediction. So just
because I have USC and Texas, that doesn’t mean I necessarily think that’s
where they’ll be at season’s end.

On with the show…

1. USC — Every couple of years or so, a team comes out
on a roll and everyone starts wondering whether they’re the Greatest Team Ever.
Now it’s SC. But geez, maybe it’s not hype with these guys. We won’t know until
they actually play someone, but they’re downright terrifying.

2. Texas — The OSU win was nice, even if the Big 10
looks like it was pretty heavily overrated. That’s still a tough place to play.
October won’t be easy for them — at Mizzou, Oklahoma, home for Colorado and
Texas Tech, at Oklahoma State.

3. LSU — Yep, thus far I’m right in line with both major
polls, but these do look like the three best teams in the country to me.
JaMarcus Russell really impressed me against ASU, and that was a nice win over
a good team. We’ll know more after Saturday against Tennessee.

4. Florida State — Of course I’m biased. But there
aren’t many teams with two good wins at this point, and you’d have to call
beating Miami and winning at BC to be good wins. IF Drew Weatherford is even
pretty good, and IF the young wideouts come through like they appear they will,
then there’s only one question — the secondary.

5. Georgia — I think this is the best team in the SEC
East, and they’ll have to be, since they play at Tennessee and at Florida. But
they can run the ball, they can throw it enough and the defense is very good.

6. Virginia Tech — This might be a very, very good team,
but they had a hard time with the only decent opponent they’ve had so far. I
can’t shake the feeling they’ll lose to somebody they shouldn’t — maybe as
soon as this weekend against Georgia Tech, which is a very dangerous team.

7. Florida — They can play defense. They’ve got
attitude. But if Meyer can’t or won’t tailor his offense to fit an amazing
talent like Chris Leak, then there are major problems in Gainesville. This team
could be scary good. They’re not quite there right now.

8. Miami — Yeah, they’ve got a loss. But Tallahassee is
a tough place to play. So is Clemson, where the ‘Canes pulled out a very gutty
win. The schedule is pretty favorable to UM for the next month and a half or so
— they’ll probably be 7-1 and rolling when they go to Blacksburg in November.

9. Tennessee — Yup, it’s another team with a loss. But
as with Miami’s loss, it’s hard to dock them too much for it. UT’s defeat is to
Florida, at night, on the road. And that close win over UAB is actually a
half-decent showing, because UAB is not a weak team.

10. Purdue — I hate to put them here when they haven’t
really showed anything, but it’s hard to leave out the Big 10 entirely.
Louisville is the other team I considered here, and their win over Oregon State
is probably better than anything Purdue has done. So I reserve the right to
change this spot even if Purdue keeps winning.

Game of the week: Iowa-Ohio State. I was very high on
Iowa before the season started; I thought they might well be the best team in
the Big 10. Now the conference has been exposed, but a win for either of these
teams will be a nice step back towards being well regarded. It will be hard
this year for a one-loss team to make the Rose Bowl, but it will be impossible
for a two-loss team.

3 Comments

Personally, I like VT with all their returning starters. That being said, during my recent travels I never got a chance to comment on the whole cinching thing.

I think its a shame how little press the Cardinals receive. Their success should be a much bigger deal and the reason it isn’t, is all a product of the ridiculous Wild Card. Nowadays the big story is a bunch of second and third place ball clubs battling it our for what should be the biggest asterisk in baseball history.

How come I have to watch the Nats bobble balls on my Baseball Tonight rather than see Eck and Grudz turning a nice DP? If a team winning a 100 games is so much more boring than others floating around .500 there is definitely something wrong here.

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